Amor and Psyche
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Forced to co-operate in one of his mother's ploys, Scorpius Malfoy soon finds himself in way over his head. Lucy Weasley, the unsuspecting victim, finds that she's not much better off than that.
1. Venus

**A/N**: New story! As the title says, it's loosely based on the Greek myth about Amor and Psyche. I think this should be understandable (and enjoyable, or so I hope) without knowing it. Feel free to ask about it though, then I'll just include important parts of the myth in the next chapters. Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter :(

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She _hated_ her. She had never thought that she would sink as low as to full out hate someone, but obviously, she had. How dare that girl steal away her job, or rather, her promotion? She was only twenty years old, two years out of Hogwarts and more inexperienced than the average employee. Yet _she_ had been promoted.

No, she was above this. She could keep smiling – while boiling with rage on the inside. She could stay nice and polite – while silently cursing the girl. She could do her work as she was used to – while silently plotting the doom of one Lucy Weasley.

No, Astoria Malfoy was far from amused.

She had been working for this department for ages – well, at least for longer than the Weasley girl, who had probably just been promoted because of her last name and her family. Astoria knew that she herself had quite a famous last name too, but not famous because of the good that had come from it. But when she had married Draco Malfoy over twenty years ago, she had known that she would have to pay a certain price. She knew that people were less likely to trust her now.

It still stung. She had been working here ever since Scorpius had started at Hogwarts, ten years before. She had proven herself to be trustworthy, something that couldn't be said about the Weasley girl. She, Astoria, was much better for the job, but for some reason, the big boss couldn't see that. Oh, how she hated that.

Now she had to take orders from a twenty-year-old with horrible red hair – it was unlike other hair, not just because of its colour, but because of the way it seemed to stick out in fifty different directions as well. How could they even think that she could run the department (okay, only a small part of it) efficiently? She was the epitome of clumsiness and chaos. Astoria supposed that she might be a little prejudiced against the girl, but it was still true. She herself was much more orderly. She scoffed to herself once more as she turned back to her work. She would get her revenge, she was sure of it.

When she came home that night, she was still angry about the whole ordeal. What bothered her most was that that girl had obviously deemed it necessary to chat with every employee during lunch, and Astoria had not been an exception. She prided herself in the fact that she'd been particularly nasty (despite her earlier intentions) and Lucy Weasley hadn't been able to really get a conversation going, so she had walked away after a while.

She was glad the House-elves had already prepared dinner, and Draco was home already when she got there. Scorpius, who had dinner with them nearly all the time (he still didn't get the hang of cooking, even at the age of twenty-one), came in a few minutes later.

Nobody spoke while they ate; that had always been the case, and that still was the case. After dinner, the members of the small family seated themselves in the living room, where Astoria recounted the events at work to them at great length.

"Some people just don't understand what it means to come from a good family," Draco said once she finished her story. "Those Weasleys – they've always fought for equality for everyone and now they think they're equal to everyone too, including us."

Astoria nodded, full-heartedly agreeing with her husband. "And just because her last name is Weasley presumably makes her better than everyone else. Really, there was absolutely no reason for that little girl to get the promotion. She's been working there for just a little over two years!"

"Those Weasleys are treated like royalties, indeed," Draco said, nodding in agreement. "But most of them have never done anything for our society; what gives them the right to act as if they're above everyone else?"

"What do you think, Scorpius?" Astoria asked her son, curious to hear what he thought about this. He usually wasn't very outspoken (one would say he was a little shy), but she was sure that on this subject, he would have a clear opinion.

"It's not her fault she's a Weasley, right?" Scorpius asked, looking at the crystal vase on the table with a lot of interest. "Or that she got that promotion. People might look up to her because she's a Weasley, but she didn't choose to be one, did she?" He shrugged, more to himself than to his parents. "And who knows, perhaps she'll prove herself to be quite fitting for the job."

Astoria raised her eyebrows at this. "Since when are you so supportive to the Weasleys?" she asked.

"I'm not!" Scorpius protested. "It's just that – never mind."

"Have they brainwashed you?" Draco wanted to know.

"Of course not! But if you're waiting for me to start bad-mouthing her just because she got a job you wanted," Scorpius now turned to his mother, though he still wasn't looking at either of his parents, "fine. Perhaps she'll mess things up so badly that she'll get fired or whatever and you'll still get the job."

"But how could she possibly mess up?" Astoria wondered aloud.

"She could be very irresponsible. Like not doing her work the way she should, constantly being distracted," Draco replied. "But how to distract her?"

Astoria smiled suddenly. She had a wonderful idea now – one that would distract the girl from her work and make her unable to focus on anything. "We'll make her fall in love," she said softly. The corners of Draco's mouth curled upwards.

"You're going to mess with her feelings?" Scorpius asked out of the blue. "That's it, I'm out of here."

"No, you're staying," Astoria said, gazing at her son. "You, as a matter of fact, are going to execute the plan. We'll get ourselves a strong love potion, you'll give it to her – if I would do it, or your father, it would be much too obvious – and we'll make sure that there's someone completely unattainable for her to catch sight of once she drinks the potion."

And nothing could go wrong.**

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**: So, what do you think so far? Let me know, please review!

A/N


	2. Amor, part 1

**A/N**: Hello :) Here's chapter two, hopefully you'll enjoy it! Don't forget to leave a review to tell me what you thought! ;)

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Scorpius Malfoy slammed the door to his flat shut. He could not believe that his parents had managed to talk him into doing this. He had never been one for causing trouble, and messing with a girl's feelings wasn't one of his usual pastimes. He vaguely knew Lucy Weasley from Hogwarts; they had never spoken, but he had seen her around. She seemed perfectly fine; nothing like the wench his mother made her out to be. And now he had to slip her a love potion. How? That was beyond him.

The 'unattainable' person she was supposed to fall in love with was none other than the Minister of Magic himself. Scorpius didn't even _want_ to know how his parents had come up with _that_ crazy idea. For some unexplained reason, they even had a remotely strong love potion lying about somewhere in the house. He was supposed to go to her office tomorrow while she wasn't there, slip the potion in whatever drink was on her desk, and get out as quickly as possible. Then, Lucy had to come in and drink it. The grand finale would be when his parents would tell the Minister that she wanted to speak with him. Awesome plan, no? Scorpius didn't think so. It was so wrong, in so many ways.

When he arrived at his mother's working place the next day, he hadn't slept at all. He was ready to tell her that he wasn't going to go through with the plan – she could do it herself if she wanted this so badly, but he wasn't going to help her.

"Mother," he said, coming to a halt in front of her desk, "I'm not doing this."

"Of course you are," she told him, not looking up from her work. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"No, I'm not," Scorpius protested. "I'm not helping you in this. It's wrong. And I figured it would be polite to come and tell you in your face that I'm not going to do this."

"Sure, sure," his mother said absent-mindedly, waving with her hand. "Could you get me two cups of coffee, please?"

Not sure why she suddenly wanted coffee, Scorpius did as she asked him. He kept an eye out for a flash of red hair, but Lucy was nowhere to be seen. Of course, this could have to do with the fact that due to her recent promotion, she had an office to herself. Scorpius figured that that might've been one of the main reasons for his mother to hate her now. All she wanted was her own fancy office. It was ridiculous, but what could he do?

By the time he got back to his mother's desk and sat down, she had cleared it up a bit. "Right," she said, "thanks." She took a small bottle out of a drawer and poured it in one of the cups. "Now, if you could bring this to Weasley's office, you're excused."

Scorpius' mouth fell open. He could not believe his ears. "I already told you, mother, I'm not interested in helping you with your silly loathing fest. It's not her fault she got that job, and I'm not going to be a puppet in your ploys to achieve world domination, or whatever it is you're planning."

"It's not as if you have a choice in the matter," his mother replied haughtily. "You've been part of that ploy since you were born." Seeing his face, she added, "Well, not necessarily that ploy. But you've been part of _my_ ploys ever since then. No escape possible."

"Watch me," Scorpius said in a low voice, standing up to leave.

"So you're just going to run for it, then? I thought we'd raised you differently," his mother said with a disapproving look. "And is this how you're going to thank me – and your father – for all our cares?"

Scorpius clenched his fists. He knew that she was only trying to guilt-trip him, and he should be stronger than this. Yet, he knowingly fell for it. His mother's grin widened as he sat back down.

"Now," she continued, "all I'm asking you to do is bring this cup to her office, and then you're free to leave. The love potion isn't everlasting – in fact, I think its effects won't last very long."

"How long is 'not very long'?" Scorpius asked, wary of his mother's vague talk. He had known her his entire life, and by now, he knew she wasn't exactly trustworthy.

"I don't know exactly, but don't count on her chasing after whomever she'll see first forever. Besides, the longer the potion will have to mix with the coffee, the longer she'll be influenced by it. So if I were you, I'd hurry up. Oh – you might want some coffee yourself, too. You don't look as if you had a lot of sleep last night."

Grumbling to himself, Scorpius took both cups and walked towards the office his mother had pointed out to him as Lucy's. The door was open, but she wasn't there. When he walked in (and saw a _very_ orderly desk), he heard a voice from behind.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing in my office?" There she was, her hair still as red as it had been in school, although it was now no longer loose and falling on her shoulders like it once had.

"Sorry," Scorpius quickly apologised, and she seemed to instantly recognise him. To prevent her from making any comments, Scorpius handed her one of the cups hastily. "My mother thought you might want a cup of coffee. You know, it's supposed to be good here. I was just about to leave, so… cheers!"

He lifted his own cup slightly and gulped the coffee down as quickly as he could. Then, he walked towards the door, hoping that he hadn't messed up by staying in her office for too long. The Minister (or whomever his mother deemed most appropriate) should be coming in soon.

Before walking out, he glanced over his shoulder once more and instantly regretted it. She was standing with her back towards him, but somehow, he suddenly felt _very_ attracted to her. She just seemed perfect to him, then and there. That was when Scorpius realised that something had just gone horribly wrong.


	3. Amor, part 2

**A/N**: Hello :) Here's chapter 3, hopefully you'll enjoy it! I'm sorry if it all seems a little fast (and... mushy), it all just needed to happen.

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That night was torture for Scorpius. No matter how hard he tried to fall asleep, he kept seeing Lucy and he couldn't stop thinking about her. He was in pain; this feeling was unlike anything else he had ever experienced. Was this what love felt like, then? If it was, he was very happy that he had never had to experience this before. Pure torture.

The following morning, Scorpius had trouble getting out of bed. He was dead tired, but that was not the reason. He just realised that he wouldn't be seeing Lucy at all today. Now, he hadn't seen her for a couple of years before yesterday and it had never bothered him, but he could no longer imagine himself not seeing her for longer than a day without going completely crazy.

In St Mungo's, where Scorpius worked as a trainee-Healer, people cast him odd glances all day. Several people asked him if he was alright, to which he just nodded. No matter what he did, Lucy kept popping back into his mind. She was everywhere; Scorpius even almost confused one of the patients for her. He was slowly (or quickly, he didn't know) going mad.

"Scorpius, are you sure you're alright?" his supervisor, Zelda Ericson, asked him during the lunch break. "You don't look good."

"I'm fine," Scorpius replied dully. Truth was, he missed Lucy. He missed her terribly. His heart was aching and he was almost bursting to see her.

"You don't look it," Zelda repeated. "Perhaps you should take some time off, you know? You've been working rather hard lately. Yes, you should do that. Take this week off – and if you don't feel better then, that's okay. Take off as long as you want, alright?"

Scorpius got the distinct feeling that she wanted to get rid of him. She had never urged him to take a holiday before. As a matter of fact, it had been her who kept refusing to give Scorpius some time off. But he didn't care. All he cared for, after all, was Lucy. But how to get close to her?

A couple of days later, Scorpius was feeling down again. Or still. He didn't know anymore by now. He only knew that just seeing Lucy when she entered or exited the Ministry (where he'd lay in hiding) wasn't enough. He needed to speak to her, but he didn't know how to do that. She couldn't know what had happened. That was much too embarrassing.

In the end, Scorpius decided to write her a letter. Just a short one, to tell her about his feelings. To his utter surprise, she wrote back. He couldn't stop reading the short note over and over again. To think her hands had touched this same parchment… that thought was more than enough to drive him crazy.

Over the next few days, Scorpius kept on writing; as soon as she responded, he was already writing a new letter. He didn't want to miss a single chance to hear from her. There was some initial awkwardness, since Lucy didn't know who he was and he wouldn't tell her, however much she asked about it. She never carried out her threat to stop writing him though, fortunately. Soon, however, Scorpius knew a whole variety of things about Lucy, and she knew a lot about him (except, naturally, the vital information that might result in him being found out).

She liked the colour purple, she had managed to fall down three flights of stairs once, she had always wanted a pet zebra when she was younger – to Scorpius, this only made her seem more perfect, however weird some of the stuff actually was.

After almost two weeks of writing (Scorpius hadn't returned to work yet, and nobody had owled him or come for a visit, asking him how long it would take before he'd be back), Lucy put her foot down and told him that he could pick. Either they were going to meet each other, or this would be the end of their already non-existent relationship.

Another restless night followed for Scorpius; he hadn't slept well these past weeks, but this made it even worse. On one hand, he couldn't wait to tell her who he was and start dating her, but what if she didn't want to date a Malfoy? What if she would laugh at him? What if this was only a pity date? She probably didn't even really like him. In the end, his need to (really) see her won. So he wrote her back, saying that he would love to take her out some time, but that the situation (which he _had_ told her about, for some reason) was almost too embarrassing for him to deal with.

He thanked Merlin when she wrote back that she would come blindfolded if that made him feel better. Although that did mean that he wouldn't be able to see her eyes, he wouldn't be recognised either.

Two days later, Scorpius was incredibly nervous. Sure, Lucy wouldn't be able to see him, but he still wanted to look good. They had decided to just go to a park, instead of having dinner, because in a restaurant, they would surely attract attention to themselves.

As they strolled around, Scorpius had to make sure that Lucy didn't bump into anything, blindfolded as she was. "Hey," she said suddenly, "why are you so nervous anyway? I mean, I already know what's going on – you accidentally drank some love potion and then saw me somewhere – so why can't I just know who you are?"

"It's embarrassing," Scorpius said, steering her around a group of trees.

"Well, maybe," she admitted, "but why are you so afraid? I mean, if I thought you were a creep, I would not have written back, right?"

There she had a point. "It's especially embarrassing for _me_," he replied. Now that he was with her, here, he felt happier than he had been in ages. It suddenly occurred to him that, while he had dated girls before, he had never felt like this. He got the jitters just because she was near, and having to guide her through the park was almost surreal. He could only blame the love potion.

"Why?" she wanted to know.

"I shouldn't… feel this way about you," he said softly. "We're not – compatible, if you will."

"Why not?" she asked. "We've been writing constantly these past two weeks, and I feel like I know you fairly well – apart from, of course, the whole I-won't-tell-you-my-name-thing. We seem to have a lot in common."

Which was true. Neither of them liked Mexican food, both had highly enjoyed Muggle Studies at Hogwarts (Scorpius' father had nearly killed him when he found out his son was taking that class, though), and both wanted to travel the world at some point in their lives.

"It wouldn't be easy to tell people that. We – never mind." He wanted to tell her that neither of them would get many, if any, positive reactions from their families if they would ever get together. Scorpius remembered the treatment Lucy's cousins had given him at Hogwarts. Most of them had pretended that he didn't exist, but Rose Weasley had been a complete bitch every time they came across each other, James Potter hadn't been able to stop cursing him from across the hallway, and Potter's younger brother had glared at Scorpius every opportunity he got. "Besides, once this potion stops working, you'll be freed from me."

"Is that what you're planning?" she asked sharply, and Scorpius winced at the tone of her voice. "Is that what you're playing at? Make me like you first, acting like a lovesick puppy, and ditch me once the potion stops working?"

"That would be better for both of us," Scorpius said softly. "Trust me."

Lucy scoffed at this, and she didn't say anything for a while, leaving Scorpius to his thoughts. He hadn't even thought about that, but actually, he was using her to satisfy his own needs now. He didn't think for one moment that _she_ could attach herself to _him_ too.

"Lucy," he started, but she didn't look his way. Not that that mattered, because she couldn't see him either way, but still. "I'm sorry. Of course I'm not going to ditch you. I just thought that that was what you wanted."

She snorted. "Perhaps that's what would be best, yes. It's good that you just said that. At least now I know not to get too attached to you." She paused for a while. "Could you leave? I think we're done for today."

Well, that didn't go too well. When Scorpius entered his flat, he cursed himself for being so stupid. And then his heart started aching again. Lovely.

He wrote five letters full of apologies before Lucy bothered to write back. It was almost as if she enjoyed seeing him in pain. Except for the 'seeing' part, of course.

When she replied, her letter was rather short and angry. It took Scorpius another five letters before her letters started getting a nicer tone. Ten more letters, and he knew he simply had to see her again. When he told Lucy this, she flat out refused.

Apparently, she didn't feel like getting ditched as soon as the potion stopped working. Three letters later, Scorpius had managed to assure her that they could surely hang out together once the potion's effects subdued. If she still wanted to, that was.

In the end, Lucy agreed to meet him again. Fortunately. Scorpius felt as though it shouldn't have taken her any longer, or else he would've felt like he was dying. She had only one condition: she wasn't wearing the blindfold again. Scorpius was, however, allowed to put some sort of spell on her that caused her to go temporarily blind. There was virtually no difference between the two options, but Scorpius decided not to question her reasoning behind that decision.

The day before their 'date', Scorpius used the spell on himself. It was horrible, and it was annoying, and it was… a bit scary. He didn't see anything for three hours. At least he now knew how long the spell would last.

After meeting each other in the park a couple of times, Lucy wanted something else, so she dragged Scorpius off to a Muggle bar for a drink (or two). Her reasoning behind this was that nobody knew them there anyway, so it didn't matter much if she came off as a blind girl.

"It's so unfair, you know," she told him after they talked about many other things that kept them busy, ranging from work to books and the weather. It was nice, talking to her, Scorpius found. And he didn't just think that because of the love potion.

"What's unfair?" he asked her, raising his eyebrows, although she wouldn't be able to see that gesture.

"This situation," she said. "You're able to see me, but I still have no idea who you are. For all I know you could be a fourteen-year-old. Or a forty-year-old. I can only hear you."

Scorpius laughed uneasily. "Well, Lucy, I can assure you… I'm neither fourteen nor forty. We're much closer in age than that."

Now she raised her eyebrows. "Okay, if you say so. But, once I find out who you are, I'm going to hex you and take _you_ on a blind date."

Scorpius rolled his eyes, but laughed nevertheless. "Oh, very funny, Lucy. Sure, if that'll make you feel better. Who says you're even going to find out who I am? And who says you still want to take me on a date – " Here, his breath hitched. A _date_? She saw this as a date? He could practically dance and sing from happiness now. Except that he couldn't sing at all, and he could hardly dance. " – once you know who I am," he hastily finished the sentence.

She shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see to find out, then. But it's still unfair that you can see me and inwardly laugh at my horrendous appearance, and I wouldn't even know where you were if I didn't hear your voice."

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy," Scorpius said softly, "you do not look horrendous at all. You're beautiful." Lucy just snorted at this. "I mean it!" Scorpius protested. "Really! You always look beautiful!"

"Sure, sure," she said, waving his compliments away. "Could you get me home?" She looked a little down now, Scorpius was sad to see. After paying the bill (luckily, they both had some Muggle money left from when they'd studied it in Muggle Studies), Scorpius apparated to Lucy's flat with her.

"What's wrong?" he asked concernedly, noticing that Lucy still didn't look too happy.

"Nothing," she replied. "It's just that I have no idea who you are, and yet we're spending so much time together that I feel like you know me better than anyone else does."

"Lucy," Scorpius said softly, "trust me, you know me better than anyone else as well." She smiled a bit, but then her expression became sad again.

"But I don't even know you," she almost cried out. "We know each other so well and I'm really starting to like you, but I don't know you at all. You keep being so secretive about your identity – it's not fair, you know?"

"I'm sorry, Lucy," Scorpius whispered. "But it's for the best. Trust me."

"Oh, I trust you." Lucy sounded close to hysterical now. "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't let you blind me every time we meet. It's just that _you_ don't trust me enough to tell me who you are." Her despair made Scorpius' heart break in a thousand, perhaps even more, pieces. She was right, in a way. But he knew that he just couldn't tell her who he was. They were too different, despite all their similarities.

"Ssh, Lucy, it's going to be okay," he said soothingly, rubbing her shoulders, and she sniffled a little. Before Scorpius knew what he was doing, he was kissing her. He didn't know what possessed him so suddenly, but he kissed her, trying to let her know that it would all be alright. It would be just fine. Now if only she would listen to him. And she did. After a few (long) seconds, she kissed him back, albeit hesitantly. Until, of course, she pushed him away without warning.

"I've got to go," she said in a barely audible voice. Scorpius nodded, without realising that she couldn't see him. She opened the door magically and walked in, leaving him on her doorstep, wondering what just happened, and whether it was a good or a bad thing.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think? Let me know, please review! :)


	4. Amor, part 3

**A/N**: Hello again :) Here's chapter four, still in Scorpius' POV. Hopefully you'll enjoy it!

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Not long after that day, that… date, as Lucy had called it, Scorpius woke up feeling very refreshed one morning. Only when he was having breakfast, he realised that that was actually a very unusual thing nowadays. He hadn't woken up refreshed in over three weeks. His nights had always been filled with restless dreams about Lucy. His sleep had been dreamless last night. He could also think clearly again. There was no vivid image of Lucy in his head anymore.

The potion must've stopped working.

Scorpius' heart almost stopped beating at that realisation, too. Should he tell Lucy? Should he stop seeing her altogether? He remembered how she had reacted when he had told her about this plan of his, and decided that he couldn't just do that. Besides, did he even want that?

No. He didn't want that. Sure, his mind wasn't constantly filled with thoughts about Lucy anymore, but when he did think about her, he felt happy. She had given him a chance, while so many other girls would've just laughed at him and gone on with their lives. They had so much in common that it was almost unbelievable. She had been so nice, so sweet every time they had met – she had even let him blind her because that made him more comfortable. Her flaming red hair might be a little too wild, but that was nothing he couldn't overcome. And her kiss – it still made him shudder. It had been beyond his expectations, his fantasies.

Maybe he would tell her. But he certainly wasn't going to stop seeing her.

"You mean, you think the potion stopped working?" Lucy sounded surprised as he told her this; apparently, she had expected him to just stop writing and seeing her.

"I'm pretty sure of that," Scorpius replied, happy that she had even agreed to meet up with him. He hadn't thought that she wanted to, after that kiss. She had fled inside rather quickly, after all.

"Then why are you still here?" she asked. Scorpius looked up from his drink to gaze at her. He couldn't see why his mother thought Lucy was such an ugly duckling; to him, she was little less than a beautiful swan. A red haired swan, but a swan nonetheless.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" he countered, and Lucy shook her head at him. "I still like you, just – not to the extent that I used to like you. I'm not obsessed with you anymore. But that doesn't mean that I want nothing to do with you anymore."

Now she smiled at him. "Thanks," she said, and Scorpius wasn't sure why she was thanking him. "I mean, I think I might – sort of like you too. So I'm glad you're not running away yet." She put her hands in front of her at the table. "That's what lots of blokes do. I mean, I know I'm not the most attractive girl on earth – my hair is a constant disaster, and my freckles aren't exactly pretty either. Add to that that I'm a bit of a workaholic, sometimes, well, that's not really a nice package. And as I said, I was just starting to like you."

She tried to pretend that this all didn't bother her, but her words still sounded a little bitter. Scorpius took her hands in his, marvelling over how small hers were. "I'm glad about that, Lucy. Really. And you're beautiful. Don't ever let someone tell you otherwise."

After sitting there for some time, Lucy sighed, smiled, and said, "Could you take me home, please?"

"Of course, Lucy," Scorpius said, smiling to himself (since she couldn't see him, still).

As they arrived at her flat, Lucy quickly opened the door, and before Scorpius knew what was happening, she pulled him inside. "Sorry," she whispered. "Am I being too straightforward?"

Maybe she was, but Scorpius didn't mind. He didn't mind at all. "No, it's fine," he assured her. "It's absolutely fine."

She proceeded to run her hand over his face, and when she found his mouth, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. It was even better than the previous time, perhaps because _she_ was kissing _him_ now. It was _her_ idea; she really wanted this. Needless to say, Scorpius didn't have to think for long about a response.

As she pulled away from him, she smiled, and Scorpius grinned back. He was happy now, and he didn't think that anything could ruin that feeling today.

Somehow, they ended up on the couch. Kissing, of course; for anything else, it was much too early, and Lucy couldn't see nearly enough. After a while, they just sat there contently. Scorpius had his eyes closed and Lucy was leaning at his shoulder. It was almost perfect. _Almost_.

Feeling her move all of a sudden, Scorpius looked up and found Lucy staring at him with a bewildered and flabbergasted look in her eyes.

"Malfoy?" she almost choked. "Scorpius Malfoy?" Scorpius felt all the colour leave his face. How could he have forgotten about the time? "What are you – is this some kind of a joke?" Lucy looked very hurt now, which, in turn, hurt Scorpius.

"Lucy, no," he said quickly, grabbing both her hands. "It's not a joke, it's – my mother, she wanted to ruin you but I accidentally mixed up the cups that day, remember?" When she continued to just stare at him, he continued. "So I accidentally became obsessed with you and we wrote and everything – you were so nice and kind and sweet and – perfect – that I just can't stop liking you even though the potion isn't working anymore. I never meant to hurt you, and I'm sorry if I did."

She still wasn't answering. Scorpius, having never been exceptionally brave, took that as a sign to flee from her flat as quickly as he possibly could.

He had no idea where to go, and he had no idea how he ended up where he was now. It may have been a huge mistake to come here, but at least it was home. He knew this place, inside and out. He could hide and rest here for a day, perhaps two. Then he'd go back to St Mungo's to see if they had already replaced him or not. He'd start to go to work again and everything would be exactly as it had been before he had mixed up the cups of coffee.

Even though that comforted him at first, after only a minute, it started to depress him. Especially since that meant that he would never see Lucy again, and if he would, it would be very awkward and it was very likely that neither of them would speak with the other.

As he looked around the room, he did feel at home. He knew very well, though, that he had avoided this room, this house, as much as possible while he went to school.

"Scorpius!" He jumped at his mother's arrival.

"Mother!" he said, and he promptly stared right past her.

"What brings you here?" she asked sceptically. After all, she did know about Scorpius' aversion of the house and, in general, of the reputation the Malfoys had nowadays.

"I just wanted to come here for a change," he said. It wasn't completely untrue. His bed here was much more comfortable than the one in his flat and all he wanted to do now was sleep. Or rather, curl up under his blankets and die. From embarrassment, of course. And because his heart was broken. He felt stupid for only realising that so late.

"And why is that, Scorpius?" his mother asked, seeing right through him.

Without warning, Scorpius found himself telling his mother about accidentally mixing up the cups, becoming obsessed with Lucy as a result, not having worked in weeks, and her finding out who he was. During his explanation (or rather, his confession), his mother's face remained blank. Perhaps that was because he neglected to tell her that the potion had stopped working, but that certain feelings hadn't disappeared.

She shook her head in disbelief. "I knew you had screwed things up, Scorpius. The girl just continued her job the way she had before. But I didn't know you had screwed up this badly. Falling in love with a Weasley, Scorpius?" She shook her head again. "You should know that nothing good comes from that family. You'd better stay far away from them. Now, go to bed. I will take care of this situation."

Not fully grasping what his mother said, Scorpius only nodded and trudged up the stairs, to his old room. He could really do with some sleep.

* * *

**A/N**: Well, what did you think? :) Let me know, please review!


	5. Psyche, part 1

**A/N**: I'm so sorry that it took me so long! I don't quite know what happened. Anyway, this chapter is from Lucy's POV. Hopefully you'll enjoy it!

* * *

It all happened so fast – it was almost surreal. One moment, they were just sitting there together, on the couch. They were comfortable and it felt nice. And then, all of a sudden, her sight was back. The time that the spell lasted had expired.

As she always did when she was freed from the spell, she moved a little and tried to adjust her eyes to the daylight. How could they have forgotten about the time? Did she want to know who he was? She could always close her eyes and ask him to leave or to re-cast the spell, but then she remembered what her family had said when she had last seen them, shortly after their first kiss.

*#*

"_You _what_?" Lucy's father asked, his voice louder than it normally was, as she continued to look at him innocently. "You've been on several dates with a boy you've never even _seen_? Just because he wrote you and was obsessed with you due to some love potion?" _

_The look on his face was one Lucy would never forget; it was as if he couldn't believe that she was actually his daughter. "Yes, dad, I did all that."_

"_And now?" her father demanded. "Have you told him that you want to see him some time soon? Who knows what he's planning! Before you know it, you're taking wedding vows and you're shipped off across the ocean with a sixty year old homeless man who thought it would be funny to see if a young girl like you would fall for his games."_

"_How can a homeless man ship her across the ocean?" Lucy's sister, Molly, wanted to know. "Anyway, Lucy, it's not a very responsible thing to do. Who knows what that bloke is planning to do with you."_

"_I'm sure his intentions are perfectly respectable," Lucy said impatiently. "And he doesn't sound like a sixty year old homeless man, dad. He said we're rather close in age and yes, I know, he can easily lie about that, but why would someone who doesn't even like me spend so much time and money on me?"_

"_Lucy, you're only twenty years old. You know nothing about the world around you. Not everybody is nice," her father said, and Lucy noticed that he had trouble staying calm. _

_She crossed her arms defiantly. "I know that," she replied, feeling offended that her father obviously thought that she was still a little girl who could do nothing by herself. It seemed that not even her recent promotion had managed to change his mind about this. "But his letters… they seem so genuine, you know? We have so much in common, it's almost scary. Almost," she repeated, as her father opened his mouth, probably to say that if she thought it was scary, she shouldn't have kept on writing him. _

"_So now you are crushing on a bloke you don't even know. You don't know what he's really like." Lucy shot her sister an exasperated look. It was as if nobody here understood how she felt._

"_Lucy, love," her mother spoke up for the first time, "you're only getting your heart broken this way. If he's not what you thought he would be – what will you do?"_

_That was Lucy's cue to get up, walk out of the room and disapparate. It was frustrating beyond belief how her family reacted. Couldn't they just be happy for her? She wasn't afraid to find out who he was – she was certain that he'd be everything she had ever dreamed of. After all, she had been dreaming about the mysterious man more and more often lately._

*#*

This was it. This was her chance. She would finally find out who her Prince Charming was.

So she moved a bit more, looked sideways, and found herself unable to believe what she was seeing. As he looked back at her, she was sure that he knew exactly what was going on. Her shock must be written all over her face. He, in the meantime, looked as shocked as she felt; clearly, he had forgotten about the time limit too.

"Malfoy?" she asked, astonished. It was only one little word, but she almost choked while saying it. "Scorpius Malfoy?" This was unbelievable. How could he be the person she had so much in common with? What did he think he was playing at? "What are you – is this some kind of a joke?" she asked; she felt hurt, used, and miserable, all at once. Her family had been right; this fairy tale wouldn't get a happy ending.

He grabbed her hands and started to speak – how could she not have recognised his voice? She had heard him speak, not too long before this whole thing started. He tried to explain the situation – something about his mother, who, of course, worked in the same department as Lucy did, and who, apparently, hated her. He had mentioned a love potion earlier – so that potion had actually been for her? _She_ should've drunk that love potion? Her head was spinning, but he wasn't done talking yet.

She fought back a blush when he complimented her, probably without really meaning to, and she knew that, even though he had been right when he had told her that they could never make this relationship work, she wished that they could. He had dragged her into this, he had made her fall for him, and he was breaking her heart without wanting to. Yes, he was sorry, but that didn't make it all go away. Lucy had tried to tell herself that whoever the mysterious person would be, they would be happy. But now – a Malfoy. That was simply not done when you were a Weasley.

He had been so nice, though. So understanding, and it had seemed like they agreed on almost everything. He was done talking by now, but Lucy couldn't find words to answer. Suddenly, he looked almost scared. He dropped her hands, got up from the couch, and fled. He fled. And before she knew what was happening, Lucy was in tears already.

Scorpius Malfoy. Of course, she remembered him from Hogwarts. He had been in the year above her, and in Ravenclaw, while she, Lucy, had followed in her entire family's footsteps and had been a Gryffindor. It had seemed as if her family's hobby had been to spread rumours about him, false stories and ridiculous tales; to taunt and hex him whenever they saw him. Rose could go on and on about what a horrid boy he was and James always had another story about how he had pranked or hexed him now.

Oh, they would love to hear this. They would all say that her father was right – she knew nothing about the world. But what if it was _them_ who had no idea what Scorpius Malfoy was like? He had told her, after all, that she knew more about him than anyone else. And he knew more about her than other people did. Why had he just fled like that? It simply wasn't fair.

It was not a joke. It had all been real, he had been genuine about his feelings. At least, that was a thought Lucy kept holding on to.

And a love potion. Astoria Malfoy had wanted to bring her down by using a love potion? The idea sounded so weird that Lucy had trouble believing it. She hadn't even realised that the older woman might hate her – she had never given that any thought. She had used her son for her plan – or had he taken part in it voluntarily? Back when he couldn't stand her, even though they didn't even know each other. Lucy couldn't blame Scorpius for hating her, just because of what her family had done. But she hoped with all her heart that he didn't hate her now, and had never hated her before. She herself had never really listened to Rose's stories, she had never minded him too much, mostly because he left her alone too.

And now? Was it over? Was this the last they'd ever see of each other? Were they never going to meet again? What was she supposed to do?

* * *

**A/N**: So, what did you think? :) Let me know, please review!


	6. Psyche, part 2

The next day was another workday for Lucy. That meant getting up early, getting ready in a hurry, eating while walking into the Ministry and being met by a hundred complaints upon entering her office. It was strange, being back in the real world. Sure, she had gone to work all the time during the whole affair with Scorpius, but she had had her head in the clouds, and the rest of her body had been floating along.

Now it was as if she returned from a sunny holiday soaked wet and with a cold. This was not going to be her day.

While finishing some reports, she got a message from her boss, telling her to meet him in his office right now. When leaving his office, she was met by a huge pile of paper she needed to read through and sign. As she was having lunch, she got to deal with complaints about the coffee tasting like mud and the tea tasting like tar. How those people even knew what tar tasted like? Lucy had no idea.

But after what had happened and what she had heard the day before, she was almost certain that this was all one person's doing: Astoria Malfoy's. While Lucy tried to calm the workers down, she sat back in her chair and watched her with an smug smirk, a look that didn't suit her at all. Lucy wasn't usually quick to jump to conclusions, but she knew that nobody else would have done this.

So the first thing Lucy did after lunch was talk to the older woman to find out why she had done this.

"Astoria, can I have a word, please, in my office?" she asked politely, and Astoria sent her an annoyed look, making Lucy wonder, once more, _why_.

"I have a lot of work to do," Astoria replied, nodding towards a pile of papers. Lucy was sure that those were closed files, no matter what she said. And if they weren't, that had to be because she had done absolutely nothing this morning.

"It won't take long," Lucy said, and turned around towards her office. As she sat down behind her desk, she saw, to her pleasure, that Astoria had followed. Good. For a moment, she hadn't been sure if she would do so.

"What's wrong?" Astoria asked, and Lucy gestured for her to sit down, which she did.

"What are you trying to do, Astoria?" Lucy asked, and she could've sworn that the other woman looked a bit shocked there. "Why did you deem it necessary to mess with the coffee and the tea? What kind of stunt is that? Aren't we all too old for those things?" Lucy's cousin James wasn't, but that didn't matter for this conversation.

"Why did you deem it necessary to work for this department, for this part of the Ministry?" Astoria shot back, not even denying that it had been her who had been playing around with the drinks. "Why did you get the promotion, and not me?"

Seriously? She was _jealous_? Lucy was sure she gaped for a second before closing her mouth. "Is _that_ what this is about? You hate it that I was promoted, instead of you?" The glare directed her way was all the confirmation she needed. "It isn't my fault that I got that promotion, and I came to work here because I like what I do. Don't tell me you're doing this because you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous," was the answer she got.

"Really?" Lucy asked sceptically.

"Let me rephrase that; I'm not doing _this_ out of jealousy. That was what the love potion was for." Right. Lucy assumed that Astoria knew, then, how that had ended. In one big mess. "This was for what you did to my son, you little _bitch_!" After sending a particularly foul look Lucy's way, Astoria stood up and strode out of the office, back to her own desk.

Lucy, in the meantime, slouched down in her chair. What on earth had Scorpius told his mother? The only thing she'd done was talk to him and, though she might've been more than a little bit shocked last night, as far as she was aware, she hadn't done anything to hurt him. At least, not willingly.

But then again, what _had_ Scorpius told his mother? Perhaps he hadn't even said anything, and this was just a conclusion Astoria had drawn from that. Or perhaps she was mad about the fact that her son had even been hanging out with Lucy. Perhaps she had done something that had caused him to react to his mother in a way he wouldn't react to her before. All in all, Lucy had no idea what she had done wrong.

The remainder of the day was rather boring. As hectic as it had been before lunch, after lunch, there was little that needed to be done. Lucy used this free time to think her situation over again. She could go visit Scorpius, and who knew what would happen then – they could fight, they could just talk, they could argue, they could laugh, they could do anything. Or she wouldn't pay him a visit and forget him. If she could. At any rate, it was very likely that he would forget all about her anyway, now that the potion wasn't in effect anymore.

When the day at work was over, Lucy briefly stopped by her flat to leave her briefcase there, to change into more comfortable clothes and to collect her Gryffindor courage. Then she had a quick dinner at the local fish and chips store and after that, she apparated to where she had figured out Scorpius lived.

The flat looked deserted, but Lucy rang the doorbell nevertheless. When he didn't answer, she knocked the door several times, and, looking around, she decided to open the door the magical way. For one moment, she didn't care that she was trespassing; she needed to talk to him, she had decided earlier, to find out whether he still wanted anything to do with her or not.

Looking around, Lucy suddenly understood why he had been a little ashamed about his obsession; among various articles, she could even make out the small announcement that had been in the Prophet after she had been born. Other than that, his flat looked cosy enough, especially for a Malfoy.

Lucy had to conclude, though, after calling Scorpius' name numerous times, that he really wasn't there. The only other place he could be was at his parents' house. Malfoy manor. That was one place Lucy's Uncle Ron had always told them, the younger generation, gruelling stories about. Even though she was pretty nervous because of this, Lucy was determined to go there. So she did.

Taking a deep breath, she disapparated and found herself staring at the huge house that was now in front of her. _Well_, she thought, _here goes nothing_.

Before she had even rung the doorbell, the door flew open already, and Lucy was dragged inside by a House-Elf. She had to admit, this was a little frightening.

"Wait here, miss, please," the Elf told her, and Lucy nodded wordlessly. She looked around; everything looked expensive and old and it made her wonder why Astoria was even working.

"Lucy Weasley. Why doesn't it surprise me to see you here?" Speak of the devil, there was Astoria.

"Astoria," Lucy greeted, "I – "

"It's Mrs Malfoy," Astoria corrected her. Lucy blinked.

"What?" she asked.

The other woman's lips curved into a smile; no, not a smile. A smirk was more like it. "You're in my house, Weasley, at my property, and therefore you should address me as Mrs Malfoy."

The stupid wench. She clearly enjoyed being in power; now Lucy understood better why she had been so keen on the promotion: to be able to exert power over her minions. Lucy was glad that she'd never attended Hogwarts with Astoria Malfoy.

"Sure, whatever," Lucy said, trying to cover up that Astoria's tone had caught her off guard. "Anyway, I'm here to – "

"I know why you're here," Astoria said, and Lucy figured that it _was_ rather obvious why she, a Weasley, would come to the Malfoy manor, of all places. She could think of many places she'd rather be at the moment, but unfortunately, that was not where Scorpius was and finding him was her mission for the night. "You want to see my son – speak with him. You want to contaminate him some more with your Weasley germs."

Ignoring the insults directed at her, Lucy tried to speak again. "I only want to tell him – "

"I don't care," Astoria interrupted her again. "You're not going to tell him anything, Weasley. You've done enough. Thanks to you, my son is in bed, whimpering and crying like a little girl." Biting her lip, Lucy remembered how she had been in a similar state the previous night. She, however, had managed to pick up the pieces this morning and put herself together again, to go to work. If she hadn't had to work this morning, she was sure that she would still be crying, too.

"Please," she said, "it'll only take a minute." Less than a minute, even.

Astoria's eyes narrowed now, and Lucy knew that this couldn't mean any good. "Alright," she said after a couple of minutes of _very_ painful silence. That was an answer Lucy didn't see coming. "But," Astoria continued. "You're going to have to do a few things for me first. Things I don't have the time for."

Knowing that this was probably the only chance she had, Lucy nodded slowly. "Alright," she said, "what do I have to do?"

* * *

**A/N**: Well, wow. I've no idea what took me so long, but I'm really sorry. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter anyway :) Let me know what you think about it, please leave me a review!


	7. Psyche, part 3

**A/N**: Sorry I took so long... again... I'm really bad at this, it seems :S Anyway, hopefully this somewhat longer-than-usual chapter will make up for the wait :)

**Disclaimer**: The scene in St Mungo's is based off an Asterix cartoon that I don't own. I also still don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

She knew she was in trouble the moment she said those words. Astoria's eyes started gleaming as if she was a madwoman, and Lucy could swear she even rubbed her hands evilly, albeit for only a split-second.

The grin on her face didn't spell much good either.

"I knew you would give in eventually," Astoria said, taking a few steps in Lucy's direction. "Anyway, this won't take long. Or maybe it will. But that's not my concern." Giving Lucy a disdainful look (now that she thought about it, Astoria had given her that look very often; she just hadn't paid any attention to it, ever), she added, "Follow me, Weasley."

Obediently, Lucy followed her through multiple other rooms in the manor. Now that she knew not to trust Astoria too much, Lucy found herself doubting everything she said and did, and seeking an ulterior motive behind every action, no matter how small. She suspected that they were just walking through all these rooms so she would get an impression about how rich the Malfoys were. This suspicion only grew when they stopped in a room that looked _very_ much like the room they had their talk in.

"This'll do," Astoria decided. She waved her wand, and a small desk and a particularly uncomfortable looking chair appeared. "Sit, Weasley," she told Lucy.

Slowly, Lucy took a step towards the chair, but then changed her mind. "I'm not a dog, you know," she told Astoria. It was a pity that it was a Friday and that she'd have to wait until Monday to get back at Astoria for this. She wasn't usually so resentful, but Astoria was asking for it.

"Really now?" Astoria replied. "You could've fooled me, Weasley. Are you going to sit or not?"

Closing her eyes briefly, Lucy decided that she would just do as she was told. This time. The sooner she complied, the sooner it would be over. At least, she hoped that it would. So she sat down, and Astoria waved her wand again. An enormous file of papers appeared.

"This, Weasley, will be your first job for today. These are all files I haven't had the time to look into. They all need to be worked through. The funny thing is – if you don't do this right, it won't make you look better either. I'm your responsibility, after all."

Staring at the pile, Lucy wondered how long it had taken Astoria to collect so many files. And why? It wasn't as if she knew that Lucy would come by someday to work through this pile _for_ her.

"I trust you know what to do, Weasley. Take as long as you want – after all, it's your night's rest and you are the one that wants something from me."

With that, Astoria left the room, leaving Lucy with the endless stack of files. _Well_, Lucy thought to herself, _better get started, then_. So she did.

After only a couple of files, Lucy found that there were files here dating from years ago. It appeared that every time she hadn't been able to finish her work, for one reason or another, Astoria had taken the rest of it home, and never returned the files. She made a mental note to watch the older woman much better now. But, she did know why Astoria hadn't been promoted. If this was how she dealt with her work, it was a miracle that she hadn't been fired yet.

After a while, Lucy had no idea of how late it was, or how long it had been since she had started, or when Astoria would return. All she knew was that she was dead tired. And there was so much left to do. She now knew what a House-Elf must feel like. Perhaps she should've paid more attention whenever her Aunt Hermione was talking about Elves and their rights. Maybe after this, she would support S.P.E.W. _Although… let's not push it_.

"Weasley. Wake up, you silly little girl."

Feeling as though she hadn't even slept at all, Lucy looked up and blinked. Apparently, she had fallen asleep with her head on the desk. But at least the files were all done. She stifled a yawn as Astoria looked at them with narrowed eyes.

"You can take them to the Ministry now," Astoria told her. "Then you can come back here." Upon seeing Lucy's hopeful face, she added, "For your next task, Weasley. I'm not crazy."

Tiredly, Lucy picked up a pile of papers. Looking around, she reached the conclusion that that would not work. With Astoria still watching her every move, Lucy whipped out her wand and shrunk all the files so she would be able to take them all at once.

Fortunately, there weren't that many people at the Ministry and Lucy managed to arrive at her department without too much trouble. Dumping all the files on her boss' desk, she hoped that he'd forgive her for the mess she made in the process. Oh well, maybe he thought this was Astoria's doing. But she wasn't getting her hopes up.

As she arrived back at the manor, Astoria was waiting for her already. "Alright, Weasley. That was the first task. Now, if you were expecting this to be easy, you thought wrong. I'm not done with you yet."

"Is Scorpius even here?" Lucy asked; she wouldn't put it past Astoria to just make her do stuff she didn't want, only to reveal later that Scorpius had gone on a cruise in the Bahama's, or something like that.

"Yes, he is here." Astoria didn't look amused by Lucy's question. "But you don't get to see him, Weasley. I know what girls like you want. You just want the fame and the money that comes with the Malfoy name."

Lucy had to refrain herself from asking Astoria if she'd once been one of those girls too. Instead, she said, "Right. I think that we Weasleys are equally famous as you Malfoys." And they were just about equally rich too, Lucy suspected. Besides – the Malfoys didn't have such a good name after the war. Why would she associate with them if she didn't really want to? She'd better not tell Astoria this – she had the feeling that that wouldn't be appreciated.

"Now, you go to St Mungo's and get me this," Astoria told her, handing her a small piece of parchment. "In case you were wondering – it's already been paid for." Then, she shut the door in Lucy's face.

Walking towards the spot from where she could apparate to St Mungo's, Lucy studied the parchment. There was some sort of recipe on it she couldn't quite decipher. Oh well, if she only needed to pick it up, it wasn't really her problem, she decided.

She didn't know whether or not she should be suspicious of the fact that she didn't have to pay for whatever she was supposed to get – that was what she had expected. But then again, who knew what Astoria was planning.

She had arrived in St Mungo's now, and she looked around. "Excuse me?" she asked a passing Healer. She knew that, for instructions, she should actually ask the witch who was employed for this kind of questions, but she seemed… preoccupied. "Could you – never mind." The Healer hadn't even stopped when she had tried to ask him a question.

As another Healer walked by, Lucy grabbed his sleeve. "I'm sorry," she said hastily, "but could you tell me where I can find the pharmacy?"

"I have no idea," the Healer told her and walked away quickly. The thought that Healers wouldn't know where the pharmacy was seemed preposterous to Lucy, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Looking around, she saw a floor-plan of the hospital. Since there was nobody around who could help her, probably, she made her way over there. She blinked at the map, and turned back around. Right, there it was.

After waiting for half an hour (there was a rather long queue, and lots of people needed instructions on how and when to take their medicines), it was finally Lucy's turn.

"Hi," she said meekly, "I need – this." She handed the piece of parchment to the clerk and he looked it over.

"That's not available here, miss," he told her, handing her the parchment back. _Great_, Lucy thought, _just my luck_. "For this, you should go to the third floor, second corridor, first room on the left side."

"Right," Lucy replied. "Thank you." As she walked away, she tried to remember what he had said. Was it second corridor, first room, or first corridor, second room? Anyway, she had to get to the third floor, and by the looks of it, the elevators had all broken down. As if Astoria herself had had a hand in this.

By the time she'd reached the third floor, she had convinced herself that it was the first corridor, second room to the left. Or was it the right? The second room to the right didn't seem to exist, and the second door to the left was closed. Hesitantly, Lucy opened the door and peered inside. Nothing but cushions and blankets covering the floor.

_Let's try somewhere else, then_, Lucy thought. She walked back to where she came from and now took the second corridor, and stopped by the first room. Indeed, it seemed like a small shop for medicines.

"Um, excuse me?" she asked the witch behind the counter. "Do you have this?" She handed her the parchment.

Taking one look at it, the witch said, "No, we don't. You should go back to the ground floor and try the regular pharmacy."

Lucy gaped at the woman. "But – they sent me here!"

"Well I certainly don't have it," the woman told Lucy, checking her nails. "And I have no idea where else it should be."

And so Lucy trudged back towards the ground floor. Fortunately, she only had to wait twenty minutes now before it was her turn.

"You again?" the clerk asked. "I already told you – "

"To go to the third floor, yes," Lucy said impatiently. She didn't want to be stuck in this place the entire day. It was already driving her crazy. "But they didn't have it there and they sent me back here."

"I already told you, we don't have it here. I was certain they have it on the third floor… did you go to the second corridor or the fourth?"

"You told me to go to the second corridor, so that's what I did."

"Right. Hm, if I were you, I'd try the fourth corridor. Final room to the right. Next?"

Arriving at the third floor once more, Lucy bumped into the woman who had sent her away earlier. "Did you find it?" she asked.

"If I had found it, I wouldn't be here," Lucy replied, trying not to yawn.

"Perhaps you should try the second floor?" the woman suggested. "I know for sure it's not here."

"Not even in the final room to the right in the fourth corridor?" Lucy asked.

"Is that what they told you? No, that's a storage room for food for our patients. I'd go to the second floor if I were you."

So Lucy went to the second floor. "Girl, what are you doing here?" she heard a voice from her right. "You shouldn't be here; there are people with contagious diseases here!"

"I'm looking for this," Lucy said, trying to smile at the tall man standing before her.

The man studied the parchment closely. "Don't they have it on the ground floor?" he asked, surprised. "It's not here, I'm sure of that. Although – you could ask the man behind desk four in the office over there." Lucy made to walk away, but the man stopped her. "Wear this," he said, giving her a face mask. Once her back was towards the man, Lucy rolled her eyes. Nevertheless, she held the mask against her face as she walked towards the office she had been sent to.

_Awesome_, she thought as she entered the office. As it appeared, there were no numbers on the desks, so she had no idea which was desk four. There was, however, only one person in the room, so she decided to just ask him.

"Is this desk four?" she asked the man, who seemed surprised about seeing her.

"No, this is desk fifteen," he replied politely. "Desk four is currently empty."

"Yes, I can see that," Lucy said, looking towards the desk the man pointed at.

"Oh, I don't mean just now," the man said hastily. "I mean that there's nobody working at desk four today."

"I was told to ask the person at desk four a question," Lucy said deadpanned. This was not her day, at all.

"What sort of question?" the man inquired.

"Whether or not _this_ is available at this floor," Lucy replied, showing him the parchment.

"Hm, I wouldn't know the answer to that," the man said. "But perhaps if you take this," (he gave her a box) "to the pharmacy at the ground floor, they might be able to tell you more."

"I've already been there, twice," Lucy told the man. "But they don't have what's on here."

"Oh really?" the man asked, stuffing the box away again. "You know what, I'll come along with you, then."

Arriving in the pharmacy once more, Lucy was dragged along by the man, who walked towards the counter at once, instead of waiting in the queue. "This young lady needs this, but apparently, you don't have it?" he asked the clerk, who, Lucy noticed, almost rolled his eyes at her.

"No, we don't," he replied.

"Have you even checked?" the other man asked.

The clerk scoffed. "Of course I have. And I told her that she needs to go to the third floor – "

"Oh, nonsense," the other man interrupted him. "There's nothing on that floor except for blankets and food."

"I thought that during the recent reorganisations, there was now a small stock of healing stuff as well there," the clerk said, and the other man thought this over.

"You know, that's very possible. I'd try the third floor," he told Lucy, who, by now, was ready to rip her hair out.

She nodded obediently, though, and walked away again. As it turned out, the final room to the right at the end of the fourth corridor at the third floor was, indeed, a storage room for food, and for medication. The person who sorted through all the supplies told her, however, that they didn't have what she was looking for.

"What's even on this note?" she asked. She could read, by now, what was scribbled on it, but it still didn't make sense.

"It's a facial rejuvenation cream," the woman told her. "A very expensive and a very rare one. I know that we have them somewhere here, but I don't know where. Have you tried desk four in the office on the second floor?"

"Yes, I have," Lucy said, "and it was unoccupied today."

"Oh, that's really unfortunate," the woman said, shaking her head. "I am sure that the person there would've been able to tell you where you can find it. Maybe on the fourth floor – it could be possible that it's there. Good luck."

"Thank you," Lucy replied, forcing herself to smile. After all, this woman only wanted to help.

The fourth floor was a total chaos. According to the sign near the staircases, it was the floor for spell damage. Yes, Lucy could see that.

She wandered into one of the wards and asked the first person she came across, "Excuse me, do you know where I can find this?"

Luckily, it was a Healer, and not a patient, she had chosen to ask this. "I don't – can you even get that here?" the man asked. "I don't recall ever coming across this around this place."

"Oh, right," Lucy said, disappointed. It seemed that he wouldn't be of much help. "Then I'll just ask someone else."

"Maybe you can find it at the first floor, though," the man said, thinking out loud. "First corridor, fourth door to the right."

"Okay, thank you," Lucy said, taking the parchment from him and racing back to the stairs and down to the first floor. Scorpius had better be grateful. The things she did just to talk to him for, what, half a minute? She had to admit, though, that the thought of him was what kept her going. She would've given up ages ago if she had to do this with another motivation.

First floor – first corridor – fourth door. It was locked. Lucy cursed. "Miss, what is wrong?" Lucy turned around and saw a Medi-Witch looking at her with apprehension.

"I need to find something for someone but I can't find it anywhere," Lucy said.

"Let me see," the woman said, taking the parchment from her. "If I were you, I'd ask for this," she continued, quickly writing something on the other side of the parchment, "on the third floor, second corridor, first room at the left."

"Okay," Lucy replied, not completely convinced. "Thank you, I'll try that, then."

The woman already saw her coming. "You again?" she asked sceptically. "I already told you that we have nothing like what you need on this floor."

"I need something else now," Lucy responded, and showed her the parchment.

"Ah… alright," the other woman said. "I do have some of that, yes." She dove into one of the drawers and took out a bottle. "If you take this to the pharmacy on the ground floor, and tell the clerk that you want the cream version of this, he should give you that," she said, pointing at the other side of the parchment, where Astoria's original task was.

"Thank you," Lucy said, smiling. She didn't know how many times she'd already said that today, but it this was one of the only times that she meant it.

She almost ran back to the ground floor, but came to a quick halt when she noticed the sign on the door of the pharmacy. Scooting closer, she read 'Closed for lunch. Back at 1:30'.

"You have got to be kidding me," Lucy said silently to herself. This was madness. Crazy. What had she been thinking, that Astoria would make this easy for her? She glanced at the clock in the main hall. It was almost 1 now. She therefore trudged over to the (now working) elevators, to go to the fifth floor for some lunch. It had been over eighteen hours ago that she had had her last meal. That, and she could really do with some coffee.

At 1:30, Lucy was back downstairs. There wasn't much of a line now, so she didn't have to wait long. When it was her turn, though, another man (one Lucy hadn't seen yet today) suddenly appeared. He and the clerk started chatting animatedly about something or other, while Lucy felt her blood boil. This was unbelievable.

"Sorry," she said, "could you just give me the cream version of this? I'd like to go home, I've been up for over thirty hours and I'm starting to get a little cranky."

The clerk huffed, clearly offended. "There's no need to be so rude," he said obnoxiously loud, making the other people in the queue look up. Lucy was sure, though, that they were mentally strangling the clerk as well. "The cream version of this? Why, yes, here you go. Let me see that – oh, it's already been paid for."

"Why couldn't you just give me this hours ago?" Lucy asked. In all honesty, she didn't know how late she had started, but she felt as if that had been hours ago.

"You can't just walk in here with a piece of parchment, you need a prescription," the man told her, almost glaring at her.

"And you couldn't just tell me that, hours ago?" Lucy asked. What a complete idiot, this man.

"I figured the lady at the third floor would tell you," he said, and now Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Easy, isn't it, putting the blame on others like that?" she muttered, grabbing the cream and walking out. She was not in the mood to banter with this man anymore.

She apparated back to the Malfoy manor, now openly yawning. She could only hope that Astoria would cut her some slack and let her go home to sleep before giving her the next assignment. She snorted immediately. Astoria, cutting her some slack? She might've believed it earlier, but after these past 48 hours, she knew not to believe that.

"Here you go," she mumbled, as the House-Elf that opened the door led her to a room where Astoria was sitting. To Lucy immense pleasure (well, not really), her husband was there too. "Uh – hello, sir." He only looked at her as if she was some filthy and nasty abomination.

"Good, good," Astoria said, smiling at the cream appreciatively. "Now, for you, girl – I want you to go to Knockturn Alley to get us some… things." Both she and her husband smirked at this. "Here's your list, Weasley. Now get out."

Walking out of the manor, Lucy felt more tired than ever before. And it wasn't even over yet. Now she even had to go to Knockturn Alley. She had always been told to stay away from the place – her parents would murder her if they ever found out that she was going there now, she was sure of it.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think? Let me know, please review :)


	8. Amor, part 4

After sleeping for many hours, Scorpius woke up rather refreshed. As he lay awake in his bed, his mind was swimming. Swimming with thoughts about Lucy. What would she be doing now? What had she done immediately after he'd left? He wished that she would understand him, that she would write him soon, telling him that she couldn't stop thinking about him too. He knew he had to be more realistic, though.

Most likely, there was a letter waiting for him right now, telling him to stay away from her, and that she hated him. Unable to bear thinking that, Scorpius rolled over and squeezed his eyes shut. _Don't think about that_, he kept telling himself, but it was no use. That was the most likely scenario.

After all, their families hated each other. His mother hated Lucy, especially, and Lucy's entire family hated his father – and he hated them. So even if Lucy was willing to give him another chance (which was highly doubtful), nothing could happen between the two of them because of their families.

He didn't know how long he was lying there, but in the end, he got up. Slowly, he got ready to face his parents. He was sure that they would yell at him for some time, for doing such a stupid thing. And they didn't even know that he still liked her.

Walking down the stairs, he heard voices, and he quickly ducked. He wasn't sure where his parents were, but he didn't want to get caught – even at the age of twenty-one. Slowly moving back up the stairs, he tried to hear what his mother was saying.

"Here's your list, Weasley. Now get out."

Scorpius frowned. Why would a Weasley ever come here? It wasn't the likeliest place to come for them. It had to be a very important matter. His mother had sounded very… triumphant, too, for some reason.

He tried to see what was going on near the door – one of their House-Elves was showing someone the door. A _very_ familiar someone. He recognised the hair anywhere.

Lucy.

She had come here? But why? And what was his mother making her do?

Gathering some courage, he walked down the stairs again. Without knocking, he walked into the room he now knew his parents were in.

"Scorpius," his father greeted him. His mother wasn't paying him any attention; she was too busy with some sort of cream. "You're up, then?"

"I'm up," Scorpius confirmed. He looked around and took a seat. It was odd, really. He was still so dependant on his parents – for meals, for a place to stay when life got too hard for him to handle. He was nothing but a little boy. His parents had never told him that they loved him, or that they were glad to have him. Why did he still depend on them so much?

"Ah, Scorpius," his mother said, smiling at him (although it looked more like smirking to Scorpius). "You're finally awake. Now, your father and I talked, and we think – "

For once, Scorpius wasn't going to let her finish. He was sure that it would result in his life being even further dictated by his parents. "What did you do to Lucy?" he asked, glaring at both of his parents.

"The girl?" his father asked. "She's running some errands for us."

"Why?" Scorpius asked. "And what are 'some errands'?" He didn't trust that at all.

"She wanted to talk to you," his mother told him, smirking slightly, eyeing him closely to observe his reaction.

"She did?" That really surprised Scorpius.

"Yes, she did. Silly girl. She really thought she stood a chance. We decided to let her… earn that 'chat' with you first, and once we're done with her, you can tell her that you want nothing to do with her anymore."

"No," Scorpius said automatically, and his mother's grin faded.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" she asked, shocked.

"She came here to talk to me? After I ruined her life? And then I'm supposed to tell her that I don't ever want to see her again?" Scorpius couldn't believe that his parents actually thought that he would participate in their little plan. _Not anymore_.

"But – you don't want to see her again, right?" his father asked.

Scorpius snorted. "Trust me, the only thing I want at this moment is to see her again." He stood up. "So stop trying to make her life hell."

Marching out of the room, Scorpius marvelled at what had just taken place. He had finally stood up for himself, after all those years. And his parents had been too surprised, too shocked, to do something, to stop him. He should really do this more often.

No, he still didn't know what Lucy had wanted to tell him, but she was out there, somewhere, running an errand for his parents only to talk to him. If she wanted to tell him to get out of her life, she wouldn't be doing that, he decided.

But where could she be? She was running some errands for his parents… and they had given her a list. That could only mean one thing – Knockturn Alley. Scorpius wasn't exactly fond of that place, but if Lucy could go there, so could he.

_Okay_, he thought, as he walked past all the dodgy looking stores, _I really hate this place_. He knew that many people, his parents included, wondered very often when and how he had become such a scaredy-cat. The only good thing that had come from that, according to his father, was that he hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor at school. No, he'd been a Ravenclaw instead. Just like his mother.

If it wasn't for Lucy, he would never have come here. He would never come back here, that was for sure. He kept looking around, searching for a sign of the girl who had led him here. In the meantime, he had to watch out that he wouldn't be trampled, cursed, or dragged away. He shuddered. This really wasn't a pleasant place to be.

After a while, he almost wanted to give up. There was no way that he'd ever find her here. Of course, that was the exact moment that he spotted her, coming out of one of the shops. She didn't look as scared as he felt (but she had been a Gryffindor, of course), but she still seemed nervous enough.

Scorpius sped up, eager to catch up with her and get out of this place. Right when she reached for the doorknob of one of the other shops, he grabbed her arm. "Lucy," he said, and she spun around. For a second, neither of them spoke.

"Mal – I mean, Scorpius?" she asked, as if she couldn't believe that it was him. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out of here," he replied. He took her hand (which sent jolts up his arm and through his entire body, but he knew he had to ignore those for now) and started leading her away from the creepy shops.

"But – I haven't even got everything!" Lucy protested.

"That doesn't matter," he replied, taking the bag she held in her hands. "You're talking to me already, aren't you?"

She blushed. "Oh, right – of course."

"I can't believe she made you do… stuff for her," he said. They had reached Diagon Alley now, and he stopped walking, causing her to bump into him.

"Listen, I'm… sorry for how I reacted when I found out who you were," Lucy said, staring at her shoes. Then, she looked up at him. "I was just… shocked."

"That's alright," he said, unable to hold back a smile. "I'm just glad you're still talking to me."

She smiled back now. "And I'm glad you're still talking to me. Didn't that potion stop working ages ago?"

He grinned down at her. "You don't need a love potion to make me feel attracted to you."

She blushed furiously, and it was only then that Scorpius noticed how tired she looked. There were bags under her eyes and he wouldn't be surprised if she'd just fall asleep right at this spot.

"Lucy," he started, staring at her face, "what's wrong?"

In response, she just yawned. "Sorry," she said, smiling apologetically. "I'm just very tired, that's all."

"Haven't you slept lately?" he asked, concerned.

"Barely," she replied. "I didn't sleep too much after you left, and then it was a long day at work, and then I went to look for you. And your mother had some stuff for me to do."

"You really need to get some sleep," he told her. "Should I bring you back to your flat?"

"No, there's no need," she answered. "I'm fine."

Scorpius shook his head. Deciding that she would have to sleep a little, he grabbed her arm and disapparated, to his own flat.

As if she knew what he was planning, Lucy said, "No, seriously. Scorpius… I'm fine."

"You need to sleep," he just told her, and guided her towards his bedroom (which was slightly awkward. But only slightly).

After taking off her shoes, Lucy turned to him and said, "I don't have anything to sleep in."

Rummaging through his own closet, Scorpius said, "Do you want an old shirt or – " As he looked around, he saw that she had already fallen asleep.

Carefully shifting her further onto the bed, Scorpius tried to touch her as little as possible. He covered her with his blanket and stood back, smiling. She looked very peaceful – and very beautiful to him.

He walked into his kitchen to get something to eat, but as soon as he was done eating, he felt something pulling him back to his bedroom. Knowing that he had just slept for about forty hours, and that he shouldn't feel tired at all, he pushed back the blanket a bit and laid down in his bed, next to Lucy. Hopefully she wouldn't mind.

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**A/N**: I'm really sorry for taking so long to update again. Hopefully you did enjoy the chapter nevertheless :) Let me know what you think, please review! Next chapter will be the last one!


	9. Psyche, part 4

**A/N**: So... hi. I know it's been a very long time since I updated, but since I had already finished writing this a (very) long time ago, I figured I might as well finish it here. This is the final chapter, and I hope it's somewhat enjoyable :)

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When Lucy woke up, she felt slightly disoriented. Having no idea where she was at first, she sat up straight in the bed. She didn't recognise the room, but as she laid back down, memories of the previous few days flooded back to her mind. She was instantly greeted by a headache.

After lying in the bed for a little longer, Lucy decided to just get up. She stumbled out of the bedroom and was met by a strangely familiar living room. As she walked into the kitchen, she was also met by a familiar someone.

Scorpius looked up, surprised, as she sat down in the chair opposite him. "Hey," he greeted her. Lucy just smiled in response. She would still need some time to adjust to this situation. "Did you sleep well? Do you want something to eat?"

Lucy yawned and nodded. "Yes, that would be great. How long did I sleep?"

Scorpius checked his watch. "I'd say twenty-four hours." Lucy nodded, still a bit sleepy, and he stood up from his chair. "I hope you don't mind some cereal?" he asked. "I don't have many other things."

"Cereal is fine," Lucy replied. She looked around the kitchen again, and concluded that he must've gotten rid of all the articles and photos of her with which he had decorated his flat.

He saw her looking, though, and blushed a little. "Did you come here when you were looking for me?"

"Yeah, I did, at first," Lucy answered, and he nodded, understanding it all. They didn't continue talking about _that _subject_._ As she ate, she could feel his eyes on her.

"What do you think we should do now?" he asked promptly.

Lucy put down her spoon. "I have no idea," she replied honestly. She was still a little tired, after all. "If your parents hate me and my family hates your family… what _can_ we do?"

Scorpius nodded, sighing. "I know. But… do you want to do nothing, then?" He didn't seem very happy with that idea, Lucy noticed. And neither was she.

"Of course I want to do something," she told him. "I… would like to give this a chance."

He smiled happily at her. "Yeah, me too," he said. "I just don't know how."

"We'll just have to talk to them," Lucy said. Her idea didn't seem to be approved of very much by Scorpius.

"I don't know if my parents will listen to me," he muttered. "They're used to me doing whatever they want me to do."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously? You never stick up for yourself?" That was at least slightly disappointing. Of course, she could have known this already – he had never told off James or Rose at school either whenever they pestered him again.

"Hardly," he muttered. "I did it yesterday… and a few weeks ago. Apart from that, never."

"Never?" she asked. This was worse than she thought.

"At least in the past couple of years," he confirmed, staring down at the table. "Quite a turn-off, isn't it?"

Lucy debated for a moment what she should say to that, so in the end, she just shrugged. "A little. You'll have to grow at least something resembling a spine if you want to survive my family."

He grimaced, obviously remembering the taunting at school. "I know. I can try, of course. So you want to talk to our families, then?"

"We'll need to talk them eventually anyway, don't you think?" Lucy asked, laughing a little at his apprehensiveness. "So we'd best get it over with soon. Besides, I don't think we even need to inform my entire family – my parents and sister will make sure that the news will be spread."

"I'll need eyes in my back, then," Scorpius mumbled. "Your cousins will murder me."

"No, they won't," Lucy said, patting his hand from across the table. "I'll tell them to leave you alone."

"Would they listen to you?" he asked doubtfully.

Lucy shrugged. "They'd better. Now, let's go see your parents first."

He pulled a face. "Do we have to?"

She smiled at him sweetly. "Yes, we have to." She stood up and walked around the table, towards him. It was odd – he was taller than she was when he was standing, but he seemed to shrink under her gaze now.

"Alright then," he mumbled, standing up as well. She smiled again, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. He smiled back now and told her, "Now I remember why I'm doing this again."

Lucy grinned. "Let's see if your parents think that's a good reason as well."

Scorpius' face darkened. "I have very little hope that they will."

Lucy didn't expect anything else, but they could at least talk to them. They'd find out soon enough. After five more minutes of putting off their visit to the Malfoy manor, they went there anyway. There wasn't really a way out of this.

"So," Scorpius said as they were standing in front of his parents' house, "just to make this clear – you're my girlfriend now?"

Lucy smiled slyly. "If you think you can handle being my boyfriend, then gladly."

"I can only hope I'm suitable for that task," he said softly, gazing at her face.

"I'm sure you'll be more than suitable," she replied, blushing a little. "Now, come on, man up for a moment – we can do this."

"I hope you're right," he muttered, but he rang the doorbell anyway.

The House-Elf that opened the door squeaked as he saw the both of them. Trembling, he led them across the house, and when they stopped in a room Lucy hadn't seen yet, he told Scorpius, "Master Scorpius must be very brave or very foolish to bring this girl here." Immediately, the Elf squeaked again and started thumping his head into the nearest wall.

Scorpius reddened a little at this, and asked the Elf, "Stop that, will you? Can you just get my parents?" Turning to Lucy, he said, "Sorry about that. They're just… very afraid of my parents."

Lucy smiled in response. "That's alright. I couldn't really expect them to be happy about me coming here, right? Besides, I think you're very brave. Very… defying."

Scorpius laughed a bit at this, but before he had the chance to reply, the door opened and his parents walked in. When they saw who was with him (obviously, the Elf hadn't dared to tell them this detail), they both scowled.

"Scorpius?" his father asked. "What's this supposed to mean?"

Astoria hadn't taken her eyes off of Lucy yet; she stared at her with the greatest dislike Lucy had ever seen. Scorpius, in the meantime, seemed to have gained some confidence to stand up for himself.

"I'm here to introduce my new girlfriend to you," he said, wrapping an arm around Lucy and pulling her closer. His father started muttering under his breath, but Astoria didn't seem to think that would do. Instead, she started yelling.

From the first to the last word, Lucy didn't understand a word of what she was saying. She had tried to listen in the beginning, but it was just one enormous string of words that didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Scorpius and his father didn't seem fazed, though, so it had to be a somewhat regular occurrence. It would be something she'd have to get used to, then.

Once his wife was done, Scorpius' father said, "Scorpius, you're clearly still under the influence of that love potion." He sent Lucy a vicious look. "Or maybe she fed you another one. You're delusional. Do you honestly think I'm alright with this? That your mother is alright with this?"

Judging from their reactions, Lucy thought she could say that they were not alright with this. This wasn't her time to talk, though.

"The love potion stopped working ages ago," Scorpius told his parents, and Astoria's eyes turned to slits. "Yet I couldn't stop thinking about her. We want to give this a shot, whether or not you approve. Right?" Lucy nodded meekly. "In other words, you'd better get used to having Lucy around."

Lucy blinked at this. She wasn't exactly planning on regularly visiting these two people, but she reckoned that she would have to if Scorpius wanted that. Just not _too_ regularly.

Astoria now turned around and almost stormed out of the room, and her husband shook his head. "She's not happy with this at all," he told Scorpius and Lucy. "And neither am I. Scorpius – can I have a word with you? Alone?"

Reluctantly, Lucy let Scorpius sit her down in one of the chairs, after which he followed his father out of the room. She could only hope that he wouldn't be cursed or brainwashed now.

Almost an hour later, Scorpius came back. He almost fell down in the chair next to Lucy's, and she looked at him concernedly. "Are you okay?" she asked him, looking him up and down.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "We talked. A lot. It'll take them some time to get used to this idea, but I think I managed to make it clear that this is not just a joke or a complete accident."

"That's good, right?" Lucy asked, wanting to be completely sure.

"As good as it can possibly be at this moment," Scorpius confirmed.

Lucy nodded. "Do we have to stay here now? Or can we go if we want to?"

"We can go," he replied, his eyes closed. "To your parents, right? That'll be good."

"I know," Lucy said. "But the sooner we go there, the sooner it's over."

Scorpius nodded, though his nod was barely visible. "Let's go then," he said, standing up again. "Maybe we can be out of there before dinner."

Lucy wanted to laugh at his fear for her parents, but she knew that they wouldn't be very amused either. She stood up as well, and followed Scorpius as he walked out of the manor. Once they were able to apparate, she turned towards him.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked, slightly nervous.

"No," he replied, "but you're right. We'll have to do this, so let's just do it."

She nodded curtly, took his hand and disapparated. Scorpius looked surprised upon seeing her parents' house. Granted, it wasn't as big as the manor he grew up in, but she hoped he didn't think it was too shabby. She had always loved the place herself.

As he smiled at her, she knew that he didn't mind the relative smallness of the place at all. She rang the doorbell, and Scorpius inched away from her a little. He probably didn't want to get on her father's bad side immediately by appearing needy or something like it.

Indeed, it was her father who opened the door, and while he seemed surprised to see Lucy at his doorstep, completely unannounced, that was nothing compared to the look on his face when he saw Scorpius. The latter looked rather uncomfortable too.

"Hey daddy," Lucy said, smiling innocently at her father. "Can we come in?"

Her father blinked. Apparently, he had been hoping that the fact that Scorpius was here as well was just a coincidence – that he shouldn't actually be here. "Yes, of course, Lucy. Come in."

To avoid Scorpius getting the front door slammed shut in his face, Lucy took his hand again and gently pulled him after her. Her father looked at her as if she was crazy, but she ignored that for the moment. She would explain things when her mother was present too.

Luckily, her mother was in the living room. She, too, looked quite surprised by Scorpius' presence in their house.

"Lucy?" she asked. "What's going on?" By now, Lucy's father had joined them as well, and he was looking at Scorpius with a certain apprehension.

Right. Now was the moment. "Well," she started hesitantly, "I want you to meet Scorpius." They knew his last name anyway, and it would do more bad than good, mentioning it here, she figured. "We're – dating now." She took his hand and smiled at her parents, who looked about to pass out by now.

"Dating?" her father said in the end. "A Malfoy?"

"Yes, dad," Lucy replied, rolling her eyes. "That's his last name."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" her mother asked carefully.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy retorted, sounding perhaps a little more vicious than she intended.

"The Malfoy family isn't the most reliable one in this world," her father responded. "They don't exactly have a good name, as I'm sure you'll know."

Lucy could feel Scorpius tense up next to her. "That's not a very nice thing to say," she told her father. "It doesn't say anything about Scorpius. If you must know – his parents weren't too happy with this either."

"Of course they weren't!" her father exclaimed. "Malfoys and Weasleys don't mix. They don't match."

"Yes, we do," Lucy mumbled. Her father narrowed his eyes and turned towards Scorpius.

"Are you that boy who sent all those letters? The one with the love potion?"

Scorpius sent Lucy an exasperated glance; she had, after all, forgotten to tell him about the fact that she had told her parents about that. "Uh – yes," he replied. "That was me, sir."

"Lucy," her father said promptly, "kitchen, now." Her mother stayed behind; both she and Scorpius looked rather uncomfortable.

"What, dad?" she asked angrily after her father cast a Silencing spell on the kitchen.

"Are you serious about dating this boy? He's no good for you, Lucy. Absolutely no good for you. His family is evil, and you're just a little girl. He'll surely abuse that."

Lucy snorted. "You obviously don't know him at all, then, dad. He wouldn't hurt a fly, because he'd be scared the fly would tell him off. And sure, his family isn't the nicest in this world, but he's not like his parents at all. I work with his mother, and if he was anything like her, he wouldn't be here now."

"If that's what you think," her father said. He sighed. "Fine. We'll tolerate him. We'll try to be polite. That doesn't mean we like him – and trust me, nobody else in the family will approve of this."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Sure, dad. I just wanted you to be aware of this situation. We'll leave you alone now, okay? Have a good night."

Even though their talk had gone better than she had expected beforehand, she was still peeved that her father had to act this way. She briefly hugged her mother goodbye, leaving it to her father to tell her what was decided, and almost dragged Scorpius out of the house. There, she told him what her father had said, and she learned that her mother hadn't said a word.

"Do you want to go for some dinner somewhere?" Scorpius asked. "I'd invite you over, but I don't often eat at my flat."

Suddenly remembering something, Lucy smirked. "No, that's quite alright. I know a place. Let's go." Before disapparating, she took out her wand and quickly cast a spell on him.

As they landed, he almost fell, but she had figured he would. "Lucy?" he asked, panicking. "What did you do? What's going on?"

Lucy smirked again, even though he couldn't see her. "I told you, Scorpius… when I'd find out who you were, I'd take _you_ out on a blind date. Have fun trying to eat without vision."

She led him towards a table, chuckling to herself. Scorpius was muttering under his breath, not unlike his father earlier that day. This might be the start of something very good.


End file.
